June 15, 2017

Writing, Planning (Using Various Mediums), and Organizing

I've been writing in a journal regularly; however, not as regularly as I would like. I've tried to do the "morning pages" approach, but it's hard to get up every morning and write three handwritten pages. I do feel like that "brain dump" is a total positive for me, and I wish I could find the time to start every day that way. It's also good to write at night to sum up the end of the day. 


Blogging

Since I've been young, I've always like to write. Blogging is a great way to write regularly, but I have this feeling that I should be writing something of substance. I've followed some formulas to put together solid blogs in the past, and that leads to good writing (in my opinion). 

Daily Plan Bar & System 

For my "daily planning" I have been using a variation of Mike Rohde's Daily Plan Bar (DPB). I combined some elements of the old Franklin Covey system into the DPB. I find that I am able to remember to do some of the items that sometimes get forgotten like making an obscure phone call that would be easy to forget. I've used the DPB since January. It's definitely a way to help me plan out my day. I might be a bit obsessive, though, because I keep a paper monthly calendar, a Moleskine weekly calendar, my DPB, as well as Google Calendar. 
  • The monthly calendar gives me a snapshot of every month. It also allows me to look back easily from month to month. 
  • The Moleskine weekly calendar gives me a focus from day to day — and I can also take it with me wherever I go. It's like an old school way to track things. 
  • Google Calendar gives me an overall picture of things, but as much of a techie as I am, I still think that the paper versions are important. Google Calendar is an incredible way to communicate dates and events to many people at once, much easier than paper reminders. But to use it as my main calendar no longer seems like a great idea. 
  • Finally, the DPB allows me to set up each day early in the morning so I am reminded of what I need to accomplish (what do I have to get done!), what I didn't finish the day before, and what some longterm items might be. The Bullet Journal that the DPB is somewhat based on has elements that I would like to learn more about, as well. 
The overall idea of my system is to make sure that I get done what needs to be finished in a timely manner. I used to be obsessive with my Franklin Planner, but as technology evolved, I tried out different formats like the Palm Pilot and so on. But, I often found myself wandering back to the elements of the Franklin.  

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